Friday, June 24, 2011

I knew of Catherine Fisher through her series Incarceron which has gotten a lot of positive buzz. So based on its amazing cover and cover blurb I picked this book up at ALA.

I have to say this book fascinates me! The world of Anara is an amalgam of magic, technology and mysteries. The landscape and way of life is similar to what you would expect in a fantasy world. it is almost medieval with horses being the mode of transport.

We are introduced Raffi and Galen. Raffi is a Scholar to Galen a Master. Masters have a variety of mental powers and have the intelligence to handle Relic's strange technologies that frighten normal citizens. Called to the warlord Alberic's keep the two loose a valuable relic to him and are forced to track down a thief in order to get it back. For Galen though he sees this as a boon from the Makers an opportunity to gain back the power he has lost through injury.

Thus begins their two men's epic quest as the travel, trying to avoid The Watch: Anara's governing body who have been the architects of the Master's demise,

I really enjoyed stepping into this fantasy world. Raffi is a wonderful character. His interactions with Galen are the heart of this story. Galen is more of a mystery hiding his pain and fear behind abrupt and demanding behavior. We also get a glimpse of The Watches world through the character of Carys Arrin a female member of The Watch who lies her way into their confidence and joins them as the journey to Tasceron the former stronghold of the masters.

I had a lot of fun trying to guess what the Relics were ( I'm convinced one of them was a telescope!) and seeing how this first journey would end. I'm glad to see these characters will be in the next three adventures as well. The great thing about this series is that the wait time between sequels is short! Books 2-7 are being released June - August. A really great read.